By 2020, the railways will need to spare three times the number of wagons that it now allots to the steel sector if it wants to make the most of the boom that is forecast in steel production. |
The assessment was made by the Indian Steel Alliance (ISA) and announced during a presentation that it gave the railway board earlier this week. |
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In their presentation, representatives of the ISA led by it's president Moosa Raza said while the steel manufacturers in the country used around 4,182 wagons in 2004-05, they would need about 13,707 wagons between 2012 and 2020. |
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The association has asked the railways to give importance to rail networks which were used by the industry in order to increase its share of steel traffic. |
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In 2004-05, while 91 million tonnes (mt) of cargo meant for the steel sector "" including finished steel (11 mt) "" was carried by rail, only 61 mt ( of which 27 mt was finished steel) was carried by the road sector. The ISA's projection is that going by the current trend, the road sector would carry 177 mt and the rail sector 263 mt by 2020. |
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The association emphasised that the rail sector could engineer a shift and capture the huge tonnage of finished steel of 77 mt that is expected to go to the road sector in the next decade. |
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The association says steel comprised 16 per cent of rail traffic in 2004-05. In recent months, railway officials have said their cargo of steel has increased by around 25 per cent in the last quarter. |
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The association has also asked the railways to focus on the eastern states and Karnataka, as a major share of iron ore and coal reserves were situated in these areas. |
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